Baby Food Makin’–Part Dos

Part 1

I wanted to go in to a little more detail with the baby food making process. (per Meagan’s request) It has worked great for us and I want to make it an easy process for y’all if you’re interested in making your babe’s food. And seriously this is so against my personality. But with the baby came this intense desire to be semi crunchy and I’m rolling with it!

When we can afford it I try to buy organic. Anything with a thick peel or skin I don’t worry about. If you’re going to peel it, then I don’t see the need to be neurotic about buying organic. I try to get organic carrots and peas and things that aren’t peeled. Please note that the hubs quite possibly finds this obnoxious. Whatever.

I thought I would list some popular baby foods and tell you how I prepared them.

Sweet Potato: I find it easiest to boil the sweet potato. I’ve boiled it whole with the skin on – it’s easier to peel once it’s boiled. If you’re trying to save time you can peel the potato and cube it then boil. I would say boil for 30 minutes or until tender. You can also bake the potato for 1 – 1.5 hours.

Apple: I have steamed apples and boiled them. Either way works fine. Peeling the apple first seems to be easier. You can go ahead and cut up the apple to make things faster.

Carrot: Carrots take FOREVER to cook. I like to boil them until they’re tender. When you’re pureeing it takes a lot of added water to make a smooth puree. 

Peas: I buy frozen organic sweet peas. The best way to prepare these is to steam them. I use a steamer insert in a boiler on the stove. You can buy the microwave steamer bags but we are a little anti-microwave at our house. Peas don’t take long to steam. You’ll need to add some water to get your puree smooth.

Squash & Zucchini: Boiled is the easiest way to prepare veggies like this. Just boil until tender. These veggies hold a lot of water so the puree can be watery. You can also cut it up and steam it.

Pear: Steam your pear until tender.

Blueberries: Frozen or fresh blueberries can be covered with water and boiled for about 5 minutes. TM loves her some blueberries.

Butternut Squash: This cooks best in the oven. Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Put the squash cut side down in a Pyrex dish. Fill the pan with a half inch of water and bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour. This makes a great puree.

Peaches: I steamed both fresh peaches and frozen peaches and both worked great.

Prunes: I bought dried prunes and pureed them with some water. TM loves prunes. The puree is pretty thick so I would wait until your babe is ready for stage 2 foods.

The secret to making baby food is finding what works best for you. It can be time consuming but it saves money and you can control what your baby eats. Just make sure whatever you’re cooking is tender and you’ll be fine. If you have any questions just leave me a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to help you out.

Baby Food Making

I decided when I was preggo that I was going to make all of Turner McCartney’s food much to John Paul’s amusement. Let’s be honest…I’m super lazy and I rarely make my own food. But to everyone’s surprise I’ve been making baby food since TM started solids and it’s super fun! Yay!!!

I try to pick one day a week – usually Saturday or Sunday – to make all the food for the week. When we started at 6 months I was only feeding her solids once a day and waiting 3 or 4 days between new foods. Now at 8 months she’s eating 2-3 times a day so we go through a lot more baby food.

I use the baby bullet to make our food but you could use any food processor or blender or the baby cook if you have that.

The cute little batch cups with the smiley faces sold it for me! They have a little dial that you can turn to the date you made the food so you’ll know how long it’s good for. I keep prepared food in the fridge for 3 or 4 days and in the freezer for 1 month based on info in the cookbook that came with my baby bullet. Ice cube trays are great for freezing baby food and then transferring to a freezer bag for storage.

On the menu: peaches, apples, sweet peas, brown rice, carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes. I like to buy organic on things that aren’t peeled. And frozen versus canned peas because frozen peas contain no sodium. The fresh veggies are from our local farmers market. I LOVE shopping local and supporting our farmers!

I cook everything except avocado and bananas before turning it into baby food. I have a small steam basket that I use all the time. It fits in a medium pot and works perfectly for steaming food for the babe. I steam or boil just until the fruit or veggie is soft and I always leave the peel on while I cook it. I boiled the squash and sweet potato and steamed the carrots, peas, peaches, and apple. The brown rice you just mill to a fine powder and then cook with water later.

I’m still pureeing TM’s food to a smooth consistency because I’m terrified she will choke. This is what the finished product will look like. The peas are a little textured and the sweet potato makes the best puree. You can even bake it and then puree it.

The first foods we introduced were avocado followed by sweet potato and then bananas. She was not a fan of the avocado. So far she’s had apples, carrots, peas, peaches, squash, zucchini, blueberries, green beans, butternut squash, pears, prunes, and plums.

Most everything freezes well and keeps in the fridge. The only thing I make right before she eats is the banana. It turns brown pretty fast but I haven’t tried freezing it. Avocado also turns brown pretty fast but both these fruits can be mashed right before serving. I thaw the frozen food in the fridge the night before she needs it and I heat the food in a cup of hot water just like her milk.

So that’s how I make TM’s baby food. If you have any questions please let me know. I think making baby food is super fun and I love knowing exactly what she’s eating.

There are some things that I would love to know. Like when should I introduce meat?? And how can I get TM to eat like a champ?? She’s been refusing some of her fav veggies lately and really only eating fruit. Womp womp womp…..